IndyCar has bigger problems than NASCAR beating it to Mexico

IndyCar isn't ready for a race in Mexico.

Last week, IndyCar itself and McLaren's star Mexican driver Pato O'Ward were dragged into the spotlight as NASCAR announced a race in Mexico - something that IndyCar has been linked to since O'Ward rose to prominence, yet hasn't pulled off.

Some pointed comments from IndyCar's ownership then drew criticism from fans and made O'Ward a very popular winner in race one at Milwaukee on Saturday.

Obviously, O'Ward wants to race in Mexico. Many other IndyCar drivers not from Mexico agree with him. IndyCar doesn't think it's the right time.

I want to start by saying that, as a Brit who remembers CART racing at Brands Hatch, little excites me more than the idea of IndyCar stretching its legs and racing further afield than the US and Canada.

Mexico especially would be the perfect marriage. O'Ward is arguably the series' best personality as someone who appeals to all demographics, is never afraid to speak his mind, and who has a massive following in both motorsport generally and in Mexico. He's the perfect modern driver to market.

The problem here is certainly not Pato, nor Mexico as an IndyCar destination. It's the series itself.

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There are far more pressing things to focus on for IndyCar than worrying about racing further afield.

Fundamentally, there's no one currently there offering to pay the freight bill for the IndyCar teams to go. There's no cigarette or alcohol money like there was in the CART heyday of racing regularly in Australia and Japan.

There are far more issues to sort out at home.

A new charter system is high on the agenda, with teams being given paperwork to read over about the new franchise system that will hopefully give owners something of value for their investment.

It's also worth keeping in mind that the new hybrid units introduced mid-season - while necessary for keeping the engine manufacturers and Honda in particular happy - have pushed up costs.

With budgets rising, now would not be the time to force teams to spend a significant sum on a short-term calendar investment when cash is king and in short supply for many of them.

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It's one of the things complicating the driver market at the moment, because teams are having to pass on some of that cost to other areas, and drivers bringing budget/sponsorship/both is one of the ways teams can recoup some of those costs.

And that's before you consider we're only two seasons from having a new car. The DW12 will be 13 years old next season and 14 by the time it's being phased out. What should come next? Questions like what the powertrain should be is one a lot of motorsport series are facing and fearing.

But the decision over what the next car package looks like will define the next era of IndyCar racing. Especially if the next car ends up being used for 14 years!

What should that new package look like? It will be crucial to how well IndyCar can sell itself to fans in the future.

Then there's the current calendar. If I had a dollar for every tale I'd heard (many times first hand) of locals not knowing that an IndyCar race was taking place in their area, I'd be loaded.

IndyCar has worked tirelessly to invest and identify where to put that investment and, in Penske Entertainment's defence, the series is fighting years of what might be classed as under-investment before it was taken over in 2020.

It's taken on the promotion of some events itself in a bid to improve them.

Everyone wants IndyCar to invest millions immediately to fix a load of problems that are a) difficult to fix and b) being faced by a lot of other championships too. But the series always favours a more measured approach.

Roger Penske hasn't got to where he has in business by being a spendthrift.

But to me, promoting the races that are already on the calendar better and working on the series' identity and exploiting that better would be the way to grow IndyCar and the best area to invest in.

Investing a tonne in a trip to Mexico that might last one, two, five years before the money to keep doing it runs out or the impact of a fresh new event wears off, doesn’t seem a good choice versus sustained investment in safeguarding the series' future closer to home.

As sad as that makes me, given I do want to see IndyCar back in Mexico (ChampCar last raced there in 2007), it seems the best choice.

Having close racing is not going to be enough to 'sell' IndyCar to new fans. Answering some of the wider questions about what IndyCar wants to be, what its USP is, and some of its more pressing issues outlined above would be a way to steady the foundations and provide the blueprint for the future.

That's the position NASCAR is in, which is why it feels confident enough to go abroad for the first time in over 60 years.

Only then, when some of those wider issues are solved, should IndyCar be looking to exploit opportunities in other countries - unless someone comes and writes a blank cheque to do it. When does that happen these days?

Should IndyCar have a race in Mexico, and would it be successful? Absolutely. Is it the kind of risky move that IndyCar would make? No.

What happened to trigger this talk?

NASCAR announced on August 27 it would head to Mexico City for a street race in 2025. It'll be its Cup series' first points-paying race outside of America since 1958, and even that was in neighbouring Canada. It held three exhibition races in Japan from 1996-98 and its second-tier series raced in Mexico briefly in the 2000s.

In the wake of this, O'Ward was asked for his thoughts on NASCAR beating IndyCar to a race in his homeland.

O'Ward immediately expressed frustration and a fear that NASCAR racing in Mexico City effectively rules IndyCar out of a date there, and the Indy Star also heard from Scott Dixon calling the news "a massive miss" by IndyCar and champion Alex Palou being perhaps as exasperated as O'Ward.

"Everybody's overtaking us left-right, left-right," said Palou. "It's like, 'Come on'. 100% we should have been there.

"I know it's not an easy move, but we knew Pato was a big thing in 2021 when he was battling for the championship.

"He's been growing, so we're like five years too late, and now NASCAR overtakes us."

Penske Entertainment President Mark Miles was also asked about it and, although he did compliment O'Ward, he also compared him unfavourably to Mexico's last US single-seater racing hero - 1990s and 2000s IndyCar race-winner Adrian Fernandez.

"It's pretty clear that Pato isn't as famous as the last previously famous Mexican driver," said Miles.

"[O'Ward] is really gaining ground, and he's actually on some billboards now."

He later walked back his comments slightly, but the furore it caused on social media hit hard.

O'Ward's response? "I don’t think blaming me for not being more popular - which they have no way to prove either ' is right," he said.

"Saying I'm not famous enough to pack [out the] whole place just throws your series under the bus. You should want to go to Mexico or go international because you believe in your series and not just in one of your 27 drivers.

"I'm just trying to do my part and the best I can."

Could O'Ward do the NASCAR race?

The NASCAR Mexico race clashes next year with IndyCar's trip to Gateway. That's not just any track, it's one McLaren is usually very good at - O'Ward had an average finish of 2.6 there until an engine-related retirement last month - and it's near the end of the season when the teams are thinking of the championship.

So it's hard to imagine a 2025 O'Ward NASCAR Mexico race bid, unless the race and qualifying times are so flattering that he could do both that and IndyCar, which seems extremely unlikely with a flight well over three hours between the two.

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McLaren boss Zak Brown told the Associated Press that "subject to no conflicts, I'd welcome and encourage him to compete in the NASCAR Mexico race" but that article also suggests Brown would not allow O'Ward to skip an IndyCar round for it.

O'Ward has multiple options for where to go for a NASCAR seat in the future if a Mexico cameo does become possible.

McLaren ran an entry for Kyle Larson at the Indianapolis 500 this year and that was a joint effort with NASCAR squad Hendrick Motorsports. That is a relationship that's expected to continue at least for 2025.

But also, the Trackhouse team has run people like Kimi Raikkonen and Shane van Gisburgen in a guest entry car, plus that team runs the only Mexican driver in NASCAR, Daniel Suarez. So that option would put two Mexican drivers on the same team.